A valiant man
Ought not to undergo, or tempt a danger,
But worthily, and by selected ways,
He undertakes with reason, not by chance.
His valor is the salt t' his other virtues,
They're all unseason'd without it.
- New Inn (act IV, sc. 3) [Valor]

Of Pan we sing, the best of leaders Pan,
That leads the Naiads and the Dryads forth;
And to their dances more than Hermes can,
Hear, O you groves, and hills resound his worth.
- Pan's Anniversary Hymn (I) [Gods]

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it falls and die that night--
It was the plant and flower of Light.
- Pindaric Ode on the Death of Sir H. Morison
[Growth : Trees]

Ramp up my genius, be not retrograde,
But boldly nominate a spade a spade.
- Poetaster (act V, 3) [Names]

'Tis not the wholesome sharp mortality,
Or modest anger of a satiric spirit,
That hurts or wounds the body of a state,
But the sinister application
Of the malicious, ignorant, and base
Interpreter; who will distort and strain
The general scope and purpose of an author
To his particular and private spleen.
- Poetaster (act V, sc. 1) [Criticism]

O what is it proud slime will not believe
Of his own worth, to hear it equal praised
Thus with the gods?
- Sejanus (act I) [Power]

-----They write here one Cornelius--Son
Hath made the Hollanders an invisible eel
To swim the haven at Dunkirk, and sink all
The shipping there.
--But how is't done?
--I'll show you, sir.
It is automa, runs under water
With a snug nose, and has a nimble tail
Made like an auger, with which tail she wriggles
Betwixt the costs of a ship and sinks it straight.
- Staple of News (act III, sc. 1)
[Navigation]

Care that is entered once into the breast
Will have the whole possession ere it rest.
- Tale of a Tub (act I, sc. 4) [Care]

Nay, if he take you in hand, sir, with an argument,
He'll bray you in a mortar.
- The Alchemist (act II, sc. 1) [Argument]

If he were
To be made honest by an act of parliament
I should not alter in my faith of him.
- The Devil Is an Ass (act IV, sc. 1)
[Faith]

The Devil is an ass, I do acknowledge it.
- The Devil is an Ass (act IV, sc. 1)
[Devil]

Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
And I'll not look for wine.
- The Forest--Song to Celia
[Kisses : Love : Toasts]

Follow a shadow, it still flies you,
Seem to fly, it will pursue:
So court a mistress, she denies you;
Let her alone, she will court you.
Say are not women truly, then,
Styled but the shadows of us men?
- The Forest--Song--That Women are but Men's Shadows
[Shadows : Wooing]

The thirst that from the soul doth rise,
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.
- The Forest--To Celia [Toasts]

For he that once is good, is ever great.
- The Forest--To Lady Aubigny [Greatness]

Preserving the sweetness of proportion and expressing itself
beyond expression.
- The Masque of Hymen [Expression]